You have little more than a day to claim Flashback for free on GOG.com as part of their summer sale promotion. It’s the remastered edition, which I’ll elaborate on in a moment. But suffice to say, if you remember this game, you’ll want to grab it – and if you don’t know much about Flashback, it’s an opportunity to add a platforming classic to your collection.
Flashback was released in 1992 and helped set the stage for ‘thinking’ side-scrolling games. If you look at the genre’s main family tree, you’ll primarily find games such as Mario Bros and Sonic – games that urge you to move through a stage as quickly as possible – or action shooters and brawlers in the tradition of Contra and Double Dragon.
Flashback is different and sits on a specific branch it shares with games such as Prince of Persia (the 1989 version), Another World, Oddworld, Heart of Darkness and Blackthorne. These cinematic side-scrollers emphasise pacing, exploration and bursts of athleticism in a movie-like experience. And few games nailed it as well as Flashback. You are Conrad B. Hart, and you’ve lost your memory. It doesn’t help that shadowy agents are out to get you: in the opening intro, you barely escape from their clutches before crashing into an alien jungle.
This is where Flashback opens: you start in a lush and intimidating forest, exotic creatures chirping away in the background. But soon enough, you will reach an underground city, compete in a bloodsport gameshow, and make your way to Earth. With beautiful pixel art graphics (Flashback was a multi-platform must-have for next-gen consoles such as the Sega Genesis, Super NES and Atari Jaguar) and excellent rotoscoped animations, Flashback immersed you in its world – and, honestly, still does.
There was a sequel called Fade To Black, but it opted for 3D when the technology was still very rudimentary. A lacklustre remake was released in 2013, and fans like me currently rejoice because the original developer announced Flashback 2 at this year’s Summer Game Fest. Fortunately, there is also a remaster of the original, which you can get for free on GOG until tomorrow. But if you miss it, the remaster is available on GOG and Steam for less than R100.
I gave the new version a spin, and it’s very satisfying. It keeps the original graphics but with higher resolution support plus a range of filters such as anti-aliasing and blooms. Controller support is excellent, and the new version adds a rewind option to get out of mistakes. Considering how unforgiving Flashback can be, this is a terrific addition. But you can tweak the difficulty and even play the game entirely in its original version.
Flashback is one of my top 5 all-time favourite video game experiences. If I get time to dig into the remaster, I might write a proper love letter to this game. But start your own affair with this absolute gem – head to GOG now to get your copy, or spend a few bucks and buy the remaster.